Fabric



Patented May 24, 1938 ISA'TENT OFFICE FABRIC Ruth L. Sayers. Walpole,Mass., assignor to The Kendall Company, Walpole, Mass., a corporation ofMassachusetts Application November 23, 1936, Serial No. 112,265

2 claims. (o1. 139-413) This invention relates to fabrics and moreespecially to those designed primarily for use in articles worn byinfants or' used in caring for them.

An ideal fabric for these purposes must not only 'have those qualitiesessential to the health and comfort of the baby, but should also haveother qualities which are important fromthe standpoint of the mother.'I'he comfort and well being of the baby demands a fabric which is soft,non- .irritatingz light in weight, and highly pervious to air..Characteristics important to the mother, or other person caring for thebaby, are case of laundering, quick drying, and reasonable cost.

All of these qualities or characteristics indicate an open-mesh andhighly porous type of fabric which willngive the light weight, thenecessary flow of air required for the proper regulation of the bodytemperature by evaporation, and will, in addition, have the easylaundering and quick drying characteristics mentioned. A/further andextremely important requirement, however, is that the fabric shall havegreat absorbency. Since this property depends` primarily upon a largewettable area, it naturally suggests a relatively thick heavy fabricconstruction, entirely inconsistent with the requirements previouslymentioned.

'Ihe present invention aims to devise a fabric Ain whichthese-coniiicting requirements will be reconciled and which, inaddition, will be convenient to use in the actual making up of pads,towels, garments, and other articles.

The-nature of the invention will be readily unl derstood from thefollowing description when read in connection 4with the accompanyingdrawing, and the novel features y1ill be particularly pointed out in theappendedviaims.

In the drawing,

Figure 1 is anV angular view of a portion of a web of fabric embodyingthis invention; and

Fig. 2 is a vertical, sectional view on the line 2 2, Fig.e 1.

The fabric shown inthe drawing consists of two plies' which are securedtogether at suitably spaced intervals by interweaving threads common toboth plies, the intervening portionsof the plies being independent of,and free from, each other.`

two plies together may conveniently be effected by interweaving binderwams, such -as those shown at 2,- at suitable intervals between thewarp' threads 3 in the independent portions of the plies and by sooperating the harnesses that filling picks 4 at appropriate intervalsbetween the nlling threads 4 in the two layers will be interwoven withall of the warps and thus produce the narrow fillingwise stripe or bareffect shown in Fig; 1. Only a single warp or a single filling pick needbe interwoven to produce each warpwise or weftwise bar. The number ofthreads can be increased in either bar, but it is preferable to reduce'this number to a minimum. At the selvage edges of the goods all of thewarp Aand lling threads preferably are interwoven to produce rm, narrowselvage strips, one of which is shown at 5.

While the intervals separating adjacent bars may be varied materially,they should be SufB.- ciently close together so that the web can behandled and cut as conveniently as a single ply fabric, and to ensurethat neither ply will roll up or wrinkle upon the other in use. So longas these two conditions are satised, it is preferable in other respectsto space the interwoven points as far apart as possible. A fabric of theconstruction. shown in the drawing in which the interwoven bars arespaced apart by one inch intervals has proved very satisfactory.

In a typical fabric of this construction each ply might have,forexample, a 44 x 40 weave and be made of 30s warp yarn and 32sfilling. Cotton isa suitable material but should befully bleached inorder to improve its absorbency and softness. The weave can be variedconsiderably, and might be even as low in thread count as 32- x 28 or ashigh yas 52 x 48. The yarns may vary between 18s and 40s, the highernumbers, of course, being used in the fabrics'having the higher threadcounts. For general use, the interwoven bars may include from one toeight threads and be spaced at intervals from one inch to three inchesapart. However, for some uses it may be found desirable to vary thespacings between bars beyond the limits mentioned. l

'A fabric of this character satises the requirements above outlined. Itwill absorb a large quantity of liquid in proportion to its weight, issoft, comfortable, light in weight, and affords a free circulation ofair. It launders very easily and with exceptional thoroughness hsincethe solids in the soiled areas are held chiefly in the meshes of thefabric between yarns and between plies where it can be dislodged with aminimum of effort. Because of the large surface varea exv ly. Also,since the bonding of the two plies to each other is produced by theinterweaving of the threads of the plies themselves, the over-allcompressed thickness of the fabric is substantially uniform and theirritation and discomfort which would be caused by the presence ofstitched seams, if used to secure two plies of the same constructiontogether, is avoided. A fabric of this nature can be manufacturedeconomically in automatic looms of the common commercial forms, and theextra expense of stitching is avoided. Such a fabric also avoids thedifficulty, encountered in stitching two separate plies of fabrictogether, of fitting the two plies to each other so perfectly that onedoes not wrinkle on the other.

While I have herein shown and described a preferred embodiment of myinvention, it will be understood that the invention may. be embodied inother forms without departing from the spirit or scope thereof. Forexample, the fabric shown is aftwo-ply structure, but the number ofplies could be increased; For most commercial purposes. however, thetwo-ply construction is preferred.

Having thus described my invention, what I desire to claim as new is:

1. A light weight, multi-ply fabric for infants absorbent pads and thelike, the plies of which have a porous weave, said plies beingsubstantially alike and each being composed of bleached cotton yarn ofbetween 18s and 40s in size, and the yarns of adjacent plies beinginterwoven with each other at regular intervals to produce narrow barsextending continuously both warpwise and weftwise of the fabric, saidintervals being so spaced that the maximum distance between said bars isnot over three inches, and the portions of the plies between said barsbeing independent of and free from each other.

2. A fabric for infants absorbent pads and the like, comprising aplurality of substantially iden tical, open mesh, superposed, wovenplies, each having a. warp count of between 32 and 52 and a fillingcount of between 28 and 48 and composed of bleached cotton yarns ofsizes between "18s and 40s, the yarns of said plies being interwovenwitheach other in both warp and weft directions to produce regularlyspaced bars but the intervening portions of said plies being independentof and free from each other, said bars being less than eight threads inwidth and the spacing between bars being less than three inches.

RUTH L. SAYERS.

